This past Wednesday, Acting Secretary of Health, Dr. David Scrase, held the first COVID-19 update since the Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ended the indoor mask mandate during a press conference about the Legislative Session on February 17. The update focused on after the lifting of the mandate.
Lujan Grisham ended the indoor mask mandate on February 17th, weeks before its originally scheduled expiration on March 4, after extending it just three weeks prior. This happened before. In 2021 the governor in time for July 4th. At the time, she stated, 鈥淲e stepped up. We looked out for one another. We sacrificed, and we saved lives. And now we鈥檙e all ready for a safe and fun summer.鈥� She then in August, 2021 in the face of the Delta surge.
九色网's Jered Ebenreck spoke with Austin Fisher of Source NM about his during which Fisher asked Dr. Scrase about the reasoning behind last week's decision.
AUSTIN FISHER: My question is really basic, what is the scientific rationale for removing mask mandates?
DR. DAVID SCRASE: I don't know that I agree that you need scientific evidence to remove a mandate. I mean, I think the role of government is to step in when necessary in critical situations, and also to step back when you're out of that difficult period.
九色网: So Austin, what is Dr. Scrase saying here, you don't need evidence to remove a mask mandate?
FISHER: What he's saying here is that he's getting these strongly worded emails, who have this feeling that New Mexico is in a position to hand responsibility over to school boards, families and individuals and away from the state. This is a strategy, not necessarily a public health one. But this is a strategy that has recently been widely referred to as , where the state gives up responsibility for public health and hands it over to individuals.
This is not something that existed prior to COVID. This Focused Protection model only really became a thing late into the pandemic. It鈥檚 based on some very libertarian think tank viewpoints. The most prominent one was in the fall of 2020. It was called The Great Barrington Declaration, this libertarian think tank that said, 鈥淥h, well, we need to allow transmission to occur throughout the population. And then we'll reach herd immunity.鈥�
That got a lot of pushback from across the political spectrum at the time. But now, it's been rebranded into this thing called Focused Protection. And we even have pundits and policymakers adopting the same viewpoint of, 鈥淲e should just let it rip.鈥� I'm trying to be charitable here. But it's a very fraught topic.
九色网: Yes. And in your reporting, you reach out to , who's a professor of epidemiology in the neighboring state of Arizona, also a signatory on an of about 400 different public health professionals. Can you describe a little bit more of the open letter, number one, and also what Elizabeth Jacobs' take is on Dr. Scrase鈥檚 assessment of the evidence around masks?
FISHER: It essentially says that these calls to end indoor mask mandates are uninformed, and they're not following the science. They place higher risks on children; places a higher burden on immunocompromised people. These calls to end these mask mandates鈥搕hey ignore the science that shows us that these mandates are effective at reducing COVID-19 transmission.
Just a basic logical response that Professor Jacobs had 鈥� she actually watched the press conference 鈥� in her view, it doesn't make any rational sense to say, 鈥淥h, well, we're on the downslope of this wave. So let's get rid of the mask mandate.鈥� And the logical conclusion that Professor Jacobs comes to is, 鈥渨ell, you're just going to increase transmission. If you do that, we're going to have another wave.鈥�
Dr. Scrase acknowledged that he's expecting more waves to occur. So the question becomes, why do we think that a policy of, 鈥淥h, well, you make a personal choice to mask,鈥� that's not held up by the science [will work]? It's very clear to Professor Jacobs and to a lot of people in public health that does not work. Even looking at that showed that , the idea of lifting the mask mandate with those levels of vaccination and with New Mexico hospitals still under Crisis Standards of Care with some 鈥搕hat worries her.
Individual responsibility is a complete failure when it comes to public health. There's no scientific evidence to support these mask mandates being rolled back.
九色网: I appreciate your time today.
